Calibrating Our Hearts

Psalm 119:35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.

36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.

37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Instruments need to be calibrated before they can be relied upon--the instruments guiding a plane, the various watches of team members and institutions, thermometers reading the weather, a ship's compass directing its course after a night of drift, a scale used to measure small amounts of material in a laboratory, our hearts and minds toward God.

In this portion of Psalm 119, God does, and we respond. Romans 7 and other portions of New Testament scripture speak of an internal battle, a war that is being raged between the natural man within us and our reborn natures in Christ.

Just by living and breathing, the desires of our flesh pull us away, even if ever so slightly and subtly, from the true north of our upward call in Jesus Christ. It is God's Spirit in us who must turn our hearts and our eyes away from the deceit of our selfish natures and the worthless desires of our flesh. He does this for us through our reading of His Word. His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Just as Jesus washed the disciples' feet, so we need to bathe our hearts and minds daily in the reading of God's Word. So we will recalibrate our hearts to stay synchronized with our Lord, who is our goal.

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Father, thank-You for Your Word, which tunes my heart daily to Your Presence, reminding me who I am in Jesus, of His great love for me, and of the jobs You have given me here on earth to accomplish. Turn my heart toward your statutes and my eyes away from the selfish desires of my flesh and from the worthless things in the world around me. In Jesus' great and precious name, Amen.